"Need 2"
Single by Pinegrove
from the album Mixtape Two
Everything So Far
ReleasedMay 29, 2014 (2014-05-29)
Genre
Length3:11
LabelRun for Cover
Songwriter(s)Evan Stephens Hall
Producer(s)Evan Stephens Hall

"Need 2" is a song recorded by the American rock band Pinegrove. The song was first released on May 29, 2014, and later re-released as a single on June 15, 2023.[1]

Background

"Need 2" was performed, recorded, and co-mixed by Evan Stephens Hall, the chief force behind Pinegrove. In 2014, the band had released one album and several extended plays, including &, which caught the ear of a listener in Canada. This fan contacted Hall to suggest releasing a cassette of the EP, with a brand-new EP encompassing side two. Hall challenged himself to write another series of songs with the same runtime, leading to the development of "Need 2".[2] The song opens with a field recording of birds before segueing into a droning, despondent guitar riff. In a Reddit r/IAmA , Hall mentions his satisfaction with the original recording, which was made in his bedroom,[2] noting that while other songs in their catalogue have been re-interpreted over time, "Need 2" gets it right.[3] In the same thread, he reveals the song is a mediation on songwriting itself;[4] he expanded on the song's influences in a Rolling Stone piece some time later:

"I was just sort of bummed out, spaced out, bored, those classic early-Green Day tropes. And then, too, this is really a song about songwriting, ultimately, and just trying to spur myself on. [...] I was also reading a lot of Lydia Davis at the time, who’s known for flash fiction, I guess you could say, or prose poetry. So I was interested in writing songs that just had a single idea in them. And there are few lyrics in this song. It's pretty much just like, 'OK, and here I am, a human on this Earth; everything's a little bit fucked right now, and yet I am compelled to make things. Why is that? Isn't that strange? Why do I seem to need to?'"[2]

"Need 2" debuted as a part of that digital EP, Mixtape Two, first self-released on Bandcamp on May 29, 2014. At the time, Hall aimed to be conversational in his lyricism, more direct and to-the-point than concerned with interlocking themes, as in his past work. With Mixtape Two, he said: "That was a real turning point. It allowed me to move towards simplicity. Because complexity is a little bit of a defense mechanism."[5] "Need 2" was later included as a part of the band's early-career compilation, Everything So Far, first self-released on CD-R and cassette in 2014 and later widely released through Run for Cover in 2015.[6]

Release and reception

Jeff Ihaza from Rolling Stone viewed the song as "palpably moody".[2]

The song was the subject of a viral TikTok dance in 2023 dubbed the "Pinegrove Shuffle".[7] In the aftermath of the song's exposure, the band uploaded a lyric video of the song to YouTube, edited by Rena Johnson;[8] they also released a digital single of the song with three different versions of the song (a slow version, a sped-up version, and a "hyperspeed" version),[9][10] owing to a larger TikTok trend of uptempo remixes of popular songs.[11]

Personnel

Credits adapted from Mixtape Two on Bandcamp.[12]

Pinegrove

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for "Need 2"
Chart (2023) Peak
position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[13] 12

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Need 2"
Chart (2023) Position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[14] 62

References

  1. ↑ Dunworth, Liberty (June 16, 2023). "Pinegrove Shuffle TikTok dance trend sees band re-release 'Need 2'". NME. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ihaza, Jeff (June 15, 2023). "Pinegrove Went on Hiatus ... Then Went Viral on TikTok". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Dive into anything". Reddit. March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  4. ↑ Brusie, Chaunie (June 14, 2023). "Where did the Pinegrove Shuffle dance on TikTok come from?". In The Know. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Pinegrove on How Being a Good Artist and a Good Person Are the Same Thing". Pitchfork. December 16, 2016. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  6. ↑ Joyce, Colin (October 6, 2015). "Pinegrove Sign to Run for Cover, Reinvent Optimist Rock on 'New Friends'". SPIN. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  7. ↑ Marcin, Tim (June 12, 2023). "TikTok's strange 'Pinegrove Shuffle' trend, explained". Mashable. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Pinegrove – Need 2 (official lyric video)". YouTube. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  9. ↑ Rettig, James (June 15, 2023). "Pinegrove Re-Release "Need 2" After Pinegrove Shuffle TikTok Dance Trend". Stereogum. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Need 2 – EP by Pinegrove". Apple Music. June 15, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  11. ↑ Demopoulos, Alaina (January 10, 2023). "Why is Spotify full of faster versions of pop hits? Let's bring you up to speed". the Guardian. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Mixtape Two, by Pinegrove". Pinegrove. May 29, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  13. ↑ "Hot Rock & Alternative Songs: Week of July 8, 2023". Billboard. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Hot Rock & Alternative Songs – Year-End 2023". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
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